Green Destiny Project Brings

Rocketry To Reality

By Tanjua Damon

The Green Destiny Project sounds like some mysterious thing from outer space. Although it is something out of the ordinary, it will not be picking up any signals for other planets, but it could get a glimpse of outer space.

 Hadrian Kim, 14, a Newtown High School student has been hard at work designing and creating a high powered rocket that he will launch in the spring. Hadrian has been interested in and participating in rocketry for the last eight years, beginning with rockets that were a couple inches tall.

“I like to do creative things. It’s a lot more challenging than the others [rockets he has launched],” he said. “I’ve never dealt with one this size. I’ve done the small stuff for a very long time. I was interested in moving up.”

But for the last few years Hadrian has been working on more complex, high powered rocketry projects and decided he wanted to build one of his own.

“The hobby is very, very challenging especially at the level I’m at,” Hadrian said. “There’s a lot of math, physics, chemistry. There’s a lot of strategy involved. There is always a way around problems, but you have to figure them out.”

The Green Destiny Project is a rocket that will be 7.6 inches in diameter and 10 feet tall. It is fiberglass enforced and has three fins. The estimated weight is approximately 20 pounds. It has to reach an altitude of at least 800 to 1,200 feet in order for the rocket to be recovered and for the launch to be safe.

“Everything on it will go up and come back together,” Hadrian said. “Everything will stay intact. That’s the plan.”

The rocket will have several motors, two computers as well as parachutes to accomplish the ascent and descent. All components of the craft are specialized to do specific tasks, all of which are programmed and set up by Hadrian.

It will take six to ten people to launch the rocket, which will take place in Sterling, Conn., because a particular size field is needed to assure a safe launch. The field in Sterling is over one square mile.

“It’s very, very exciting to watch go off,” he said. “It’s nothing like it is on videos. I’m very confident this will be a good launch.”

There has been a delay in the project. The company Aero Tech in Las Vegas, Nev., where Hadrian will get his motor from, had an explosion at its facility. But this is not keeping Hadrian from completing the design, programming the computers, and preparing for the launch in the spring. In Hadrian’s mind, the countdown is well under way.